“What might happen to equities as yields push back into lower territory for the year? On Thursday the answer seems to be one of continued trepidation. Equity prices are once again falling back from record highs as stock investors ponder the ramifications of falling yields when very few onlookers had projected such a move.”

Stocks are deeper in the red, with all three indexes down more than 1%.

Timothy Leach, chief investment officer at the U.S. Bank Wealth Management Group says that markets were handed a reality check today when economic data from Europe came in very weak.

“When you have Germany’s Bundesbank saying they are open to underwrite stimulus, you know things are worrying.

In the U.S. the tapering of the Fed stimulus will finish by this fall, while the economy is growing at a lot slower pace than was forecast. This has been weighing on markets as we have in sideline trading.”

Sales of Samung Electronics’ new Galaxy S5 are off to a strong start and are selling 10% more than its previous model at the same period, according to a Samsung executive.

Galaxy S5 sold more than 11 million units since it hit the market early last month, ahead of the 10 million market set by Galaxy S4 in the first month of its launch last year, J.K. Shin, Samsung’s co-chief executive told The Wall Street Journal in an interview.

Think today’s 10% bump in the CBOE Volatility Index
/quotes/zigman/2766221/realtimeVIX means stocks are volatile? Not even close, seeing that mid-13 level is nowhere near the long-term VIX average of 20.

The behavior of long-duration Treasurys so far in 2014 has been nothing short of incredible. The rallying cry entering the year was that the bond rally was over. Rising rates were coming thanks to Fed tapering, and a strengthening economy. Yet, to normalize rates, growth and inflation must normalize.

Furthermore, rates we are seeing now may actually be normal in the context of structural-deflation forces decades in the making: the wealth gap, technology and demographics. It seems far more likely that the average level of rates must be lower than recent history because of these megatrends which are only accelerating in time.

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